5 September 2024
Dear Fellows and Members,
As we enter autumn in Ireland, alongside the beginning of another academic year, we see a return to meetings and conferences. I am pleased to share news of recent and future events that reflect RCSI’s commitment to supporting our diverse community of surgeons, and to providing you with opportunities to connect with the College and with each other.
The surgical academic calendar opens, as ever, with the Freyer Meeting in Galway organised by RCSI Vice-President Professor Michael Kerin (FRCSI), followed by the Waterford Surgical October Meeting on 12 October. Furthermore, as registration opens for the Millin Meeting 2024, I’d like to share more details about keynote lectures that will take place on the day.
RCSI Fellows and Members: An Inclusive Community
Ensuring support and representation for Fellows and Members at each stage of their career is important to me and to RCSI Council.
Our community of Fellows and Members is truly diverse, with an incredible mix of surgeons at various career stages working across Ireland as well as internationally. Our most recent 2024 census of RCSI Fellows and Members reports that we have 7,042 active Fellows and Members in 74 countries worldwide. The good news is that our Membership examination remains popular worldwide, with expansion in Dublin and plans underway for a further overseas centre to assist Irish and international trainees abroad to access the MRCSI, ensuring a vibrant pipeline to our profession.
As you will have read in previous Bulletins, I am keen to increase the supports available to surgeons completing surgical training and commencing their career as a consultant surgeon. This evening, in the run-up to the Freyer Meeting in Galway on Friday and Saturday, I look forward to informally connecting with a group of early career Fellows in the west of Ireland ahead of the official launch of the RCSI Early Career Surgical Network at the Millin Meeting in November 2024. Our census shows that Fellows ratified since 2019 account for 12% of our active community and I believe that the network will provide invaluable peer support and advice for those who are navigating the early years of independent consultant practice.
The census also shows that we have made strong progress in our efforts to make surgery a more attractive career for women. Almost one in five of our active Fellows and Members community are now female and, in the past year alone, we have witnessed a 29% increase in the number of active female Members and a 15% increase in the number of active female Fellows.
Given this increase, it was timely that surgical trainees Laura Staunton (MRCSI) and Suzanne Murphy (MRCSI), with the support of Kieran Ryan in Surgical Affairs, have established an Irish chapter of the Association of Women Surgeons. Their inaugural meeting on Friday, 23 August gathered more than 50 young surgeons to RCSI to hear from inspiring speakers including Ms Christine Quinlan (FRCSI), Ms Grainne Colgan (FRCSI) and Ms Abeeda Butt (FRCSI). Congratulations to all members of the AWSI committee for organising such a successful first event and to learn more, have a look at our ‘Across the Community’ feature.
Of course, a large number of our Fellows and Members are based outside of Ireland, given the international reach of our community. The Fellows and Members Office are currently making plans for a series of international networking events in the coming 12 months, so watch this space as details of forthcoming events will be shared in the ‘Dates for the Diary’ section of Bulletin monthly.
Millin Meeting 2024: Registration Now Live
A lot of work has taken place behind the scenes for the Millin Meeting, which will take place in RCSI on Friday, 8 November. Registration is now open, and I am delighted to be able to share details of the keynote lectures.
We are honoured to be joined by Dr Ayesha Noorani, MB BChir, MA(Cantab), PhD, FRCS. Recipient of a Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Clinician Scientist Fellowship, her Fellowship has enabled her to pursue a scientific career alongside her cancer surgery, as the first academic consultant oesophago-gastric cancer surgeon in Cambridge University Hospital (CUH). With a particular interest in identifying early genomic imprints in oesophageal and gastric biopsies before microscopically detectable changes occur, she is working to understand how these early changes can prevent cancer or accelerate its development so that this knowledge might be harnessed for therapies and diagnostic tests. As a young academic surgeon, we look forward to her insights on the topic of 'Achieving Excellence in Surgical and Academic Research and Training'.
The second keynote of the programme will be delivered by Dr Ori D. Rotstein, MD, FRCSC, FACS. As Vice President of Research and Innovation at Unity Health Toronto and Professor and Associate Chair of Surgery at the University of Toronto, Dr Rotstein has vast expertise and knowledge of engaging patients and the public in surgical research. As part of his lecture, Dr Rotstein will draw upon his practical experience of translational research to consider the role of patient engagement in surgical research.
Finally, in a departure from the strictly surgical realm and a nod to bygone summers, the final keynote lecture will be delivered by Enda McNulty, All-Ireland winning former Armagh footballer and GAA All-Star recipient. Enda will speak on the topic of 'Supporting High Performance Teams and Individuals'. By drawing parallels between sport and surgery, he will look to the transferable skill-sets that enable all teams to achieve peak performance and will share insights into what is required to elevate a team from good to great.
In addition to the keynote lectures, there are several symposia and sessions planned for the day and I hope to share further details regarding these elements and, of course, to announce our 47th Millin Lecturer in the weeks to come. I hope to see many of you there and I encourage you to register early to guarantee a place.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Deborah McNamara
RCSI President